Alameda Unified’s Master Plan Up for Vote Tuesday

One of the most most troubling aspects of Alameda Concerned Parent’s latest ploy is that it could drag the community’s attention back to Lesson 9 and this question of whether or not it’s ok to teach elementary school children not to bully the children of gay parents.

After all, our community is currently poised to make a huge decision: whether to support a parcel tax and thereby support some major (and, I believe, really exciting) reforms to our district or reject the parcel tax and make some very drastic (read “devastating”) cuts to our schools and programs in order to remain solvent. That’s the really important issue facing our district this spring. Talking about whether or not 8-year-olds can handle vocabulary words like “two dads” is getting old, as are the shrill cries of “foul” from those who oppose the curriculum.

In that vein, I’d like to turn everyone’s attention to the fact that the Board of Education will be voting on whether or not to approve the Master Plan at its meeting this Tuesday, February 23, at 6:30 pm, in the City Council Chambers.

For those just tuning in, the Master Plan offers eight strategies for re-structuring the district over the next five years to both improve its finances and address long-standing problems (like the achievement gap and inequities between schools across the Island). Those eight strategies are: 1) restructure the district office; 2) raise the bar for academic achievement and equity; 3) create magnet schools; 4) maintain neighborhood schools; 5) strengthen enrichment programs; 6) optimize enrollment; 7) build business and philanthropic partnerships; and 8) pass a parcel tax to replace the existing Measures A and H.

You can see a draft of the whole Master Plan here and an overview of the Master Plan here. Superintendent Kirsten Vital will also present an update on the parcel tax on Tuesday night, but no vote will be taken.

By the way, despite The Alameda Sun’s headline yesterday (“EHS Closure Looming”), the Master Plan specifically calls for keeping both high schools open if the community passes a replacement parcel tax.

Disclaimer: I provided some editing help to the district on the Master Plan.